PORT ANGELES — Republican Bill Peach and Democrat Sissi Bruch staked out differing positions on environmental issues and taxes at a forum on the Clallam County commissioner race Tuesday.
At the breakfast forum sponsored by the Port Angeles Business Association, the Nov. 4 general election candidates also differed on accepting federal Department of Defense surplus equipment, such as the Marine-issue body armor and armored vehicles obtained by the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department that were used to quell disturbances this summer.
A questioner at the forum in the dining room of Joshua’s Restaurant & Lounge asked Bruch and Peach if the county should, for example, accept surplus tanks.
Peach responded that military equipment often comes at low cost and that it otherwise would go unused.
“I fully support the decision the sheriff [Bill Benedict] would make to support his staff,” Peach said.
“If the sheriff wanted a tank, then that’s the sheriff’s business.”
Bruch, a Port Angeles City Council member, said she would be more interested in determining what technological equipment the military has available.
“I can’t imagine having a tank in Port Angeles,” she said.
“I can’t imagine the sheriff would want a tank in Port Angeles.
“I would not look to arming things to the military level.”
Peach, a Forks resident who turned 59 on Tuesday, is a former Rayonier Inc. county land manager and former Quileute tribe executive director.
Bruch, 53, the senior planner for the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, has 25 years of planning experience and holds a doctorate in urban planning-geography.
From the outset of the forum, which was attended by more than two dozen people, Peach and Bruch, who seek to fill departing incumbent Commissioner Mike Doherty’s West End District 3 seat, were at odds.
Bruch, who has been endorsed by Doherty, stressed throughout the forum the importance of planning and creating a “vision” that will benefit future generations.
Peach touted his community-participation resume such as serving as Forks Chamber of Commerce board president and said he favored property rights and “business-friendly” government.
“The reality of doing business is that you make things happen,” he said.
“You might plan, but you make things happen.”
Bruch responded: “Without planning, you are not going to get there.
“We are having to clean up the Rayonier site because it did not have that plan,” Bruch said, gesturing toward Peach where the two sat at a table in front of the dining room.
Bruch was also more amenable to a tax increase than Peach.
“Taxes that benefit the whole community are important” and are “an investment in our future,” Bruch said.
Depending on what the taxes would be for, and if they benefit everyone, “I would definitely be interested,” she added.
“Not interested,” was Peach’s immediate response.
Peach also said he favored an interim ordinance to govern the siting of recreational marijuana businesses under voter-approved Initiative 502.
Bruch said there is “merit” to a moratorium, which is supported by Doherty, and to an ordinance, but added she had not made up her mind.
The candidates were also asked if the state Department of Ecology wields too much power.
“I do believe they have too much authority, and I wish they had more conscience,” Peach said.
As an example, he cited the Dungeness Water Rule, which covers the eastern half of Water Resource Inventory Area 18, from Bagley Creek to Sequim Bay — and which he said he would “get rid of.”
“That rule will be challenged in court and will lose that battle,” he said.
Bruch said the federal Clean Water Act, which requires states to make their water fishable and swimmable, “came about because we were not doing it ourselves.”
She said a resident told her that several decades ago, Port Angeles Harbor had large amounts of floating debris and gave off an awful odor.
Ecology helped fix that, she said.
“In most cases, they are doing the right thing, the thing we should have done before it got so bad,” she said.
Both were against a carbon tax, or a fossil-fuels tax intended to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.
“There’s still a lot of information that suggests that’s not the right approach,” Peach said.
“The whole topic of climate change in the [Pacific] Northwest is still to be discussed.”
Bruch said: “I am not in favor of a carbon tax.”
Both praised the Olympic Discovery Trail, with Bruch calling it “the gem of the county.”
Peach questioned funding for the trail.
He cited the county Transportation Improvement Plan, which totals $22.8 million 2014-19, including $5.3 million for the Olympic Discovery Trail, much of it grant funding.
“Where is the money on future spending of the trail going to come from?” Peach asked.
“I do not have a crystal ball.”
General election ballots will be mailed out to all county voters Oct. 15, two weeks from today.
The 2014 Peninsula Daily News’ North Olympic Peninsula Voter Guide will be delivered to subscribers Oct. 17 and be available online at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
